Photoinduced alignment of polymer liquid crystals containing azobenzene moieties in the side group VII. On He-Ne laser beam irradiation

Photoinduced alignment in a polymer liquid crystal prepared from 6-{1-[4-(2-cyano-4-nitrophenylazo)phenyl]piperazino}hexyl acrylate and 4'-[6-(methacryloyloxy)hexyloxy]-4-cyanobiphenyl was investigated for the first time on irradiation with a polarized He-Ne laser beam at 633 nm. The azobenzene moieties as well as the inert cyanobiphenyl mesogenic units were aligned with the molecular long axis perpendicular to the polarization direction of the irradiation light. Alignment induced on short irradiation was reversible, while that induced under prolonged irradiation was irreversible due to the occurrence of crosslinking which might be caused by photoinduced decomposition of the azobenzene moieties during the photoirradiation process.     

Cryo-TEM studies of two smectic phases of an asymmetric bent-core material

Cryo-TEM studies on two smectic phases of an asymmetric bent-core liquid crystal material are presented and compared to prior X-ray results obtained in bulk samples. While the bulk samples have layer-modulated structures, those modulations are not observable in the 100-nm-thick TEM samples, indicating surface-induced suppression of the layer modulations. The observed layer spacing is in agreement with the X-ray results in the lower temperature smectic phase, but distinctly larger in the higher temperature phase. This indicates surface-induced suppression of the director tilt. Cryo-TEM textures resolve the profiles of individual smectic layers at the scales down to few nanometres and reveal the presence of edge and screw dislocations, twist grain boundaries, small-angle and large-angle tilt grain boundaries.     

Defects band enhanced by resonance Raman effect in praseodymium doped CeO2

In this work, the origin of the Raman defects band at 570 cm⁻¹ of praseodymium‐doped ceria was revisited from in situ spectra using six different exciting lines between 458 and 785 nm at low temperatures after oxidizing or reducing treatment. The observation of overtones and the fast change of relative intensity with excitation wavelength were explained by a resonance effect around 514 nm, which involved a Pr⁴⁺ containing defect stabilized at the oxidized state leading to an absorption band around 530 nm. The reduction of Pr⁴⁺ cations contained in such defects modifies the electronic properties of praseodymium doped ceria inhibiting the resonance effect. Additionally, the number of D1 defects that involved Pr³⁺ cations and oxygen vacancies increased allowing them to be distinguished. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.     

Photo‐capacitance spectroscopy investigation of deep‐level defects in AlGaN/GaN hetero‐structures with different current collapses

We have investigated electronic deep levels in two AlGaN/GaN hetero‐structures with different current collapses grown at 1150 and 1100 °C by a photo‐capacitance spectroscopy technique, using Schottky barrier diodes. Three specific deep levels located at ～2.07, ～2.80, and ～3.23 eV below the conduction band were found to be significantly enhanced for severe current collapse, being in reasonable agreement with photoluminescence and capacitance–voltage characteristics. These levels probably originate in Ga vacancies and residual C impurities and are probably responsible for the current collapse phenomena of the AlGaN/GaN hetero‐structures. (© 2010 WILEY‐VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim)     

Effect of an electric field on defects in a nematic liquid crystal with variable surface anchoring

We report experimental studies on defects in a nematic liquid crystal with negative dielectric anisotropy mounted in a cell with perfluoropolymer-coated surfaces. The sample exhibits a discontinuous anchoring transition from planar to homeotropic on cooling at zero or a small electric field, and above a cross-over voltage a continuous ‘inverse Freedericksz transition’, at which the director starts tilting in opposite directions at the two surfaces. Defects of strength ±1/2 are either annihilated or expelled when the director tilts. On the other hand, disclination lines of ±1 which end in partial point defects (boojums) at the surfaces in the planar alignment regime acquire point defects of strength ±1 at the midplane of the cell when the director tilts. At a low enough temperature, the homeotropic anchoring becomes strong, and an electric field above the Freedericksz threshold generates the usual umbilic defects, which follow the dynamic scaling laws found in earlier studies.     

Resistivity control of sputtered amorphous-silicon by ion-implantation

The resistivity of a hydrogenated sputtered amorphous-silicon is controlled by using room temperature implantation of P⁺. It is found that the defects produced by implantation can be minimized by annealing at 300°C in an H₂ atmosphere, and also found that there is a threshold implanted dose, beyond which the resistivity begins to be controlled by changing the dose.     

Characterization of the carrot defect in 4H-SiC epitaxial layers

Characterization of the epitaxial defect known as the carrot defect was performed in thick 4H-SiC epilayers. A large number of carrot defects have been studied using different experimental techniques such as Nomarski optical microscopy, KOH etching, cathodoluminescence and synchrotron white beam X-ray topography. This has revealed that carrot defects appear in many different shapes and structures in the epilayers. Our results support the previous assignment of the carrot defect as related to a prismatic stacking fault. However, we have observed carrot defects with and without a visible threading dislocation related etch pit in the head region, after KOH etching. Polishing of epilayers in a few μm steps in combination with etching in molten KOH and imaging using Nomarski optical microscope has been used to find the geometry and origin of the carrot defects in different epilayers. The defects were found to originate both at the epi-substrate interface and during the epitaxial growth. Different sources of the carrot defect have been observed at the epi-substrate interface, which result in different structures and surfaces appearance of the defect in the epilayer. Furthermore, termination of the carrot defect inside the epilayer and the influence of substrate surface damage and growth conditions on the density of carrot defects are studied.     

General relationships for isovalent cation substitution into oxides with the rocksalt structure

Isovalent cation substitution into rocksalt oxides, MO, has been investigated using atomistic simulation. A strain related parameter, ε, is established that relates the size of a substitutional cation to the host lattice ion for which it has been substituted. This has allowed us to identify relationships between solution energy, defect volume and a strain parameter, which are general for any rocksalt oxide host lattice and as such are predictive for any combination of a divalent cation and rocksalt host lattice.     

Determination of thermal wave reflection coefficient to better estimate defect depth using pulsed thermography

Thermography is a promising method for detecting subsurface defects, but accurate measurement of defect depth is still a big challenge because thermographic signals are typically corrupted by imaging noise and affected by 3D heat conduction. Existing methods based on numerical models are susceptible to signal noise and methods based on analytical models require rigorous assumptions that usually cannot be satisfied in practical applications. This paper presents a new method to improve the measurement accuracy of subsurface defect depth through determining the thermal wave reflection coefficient directly from observed data that is usually assumed to be pre-known. This target is achieved through introducing a new heat transfer model that includes multiple physical parameters to better describe the observed thermal behaviour in pulsed thermographic inspection. Numerical simulations are used to evaluate the performance of the proposed method against four selected state-of-the-art methods. Results show that the accuracy of depth measurement has been improved up to 10% when noise level is high and thermal wave reflection coefficients is low. The feasibility of the proposed method in real data is also validated through a case study on characterising flat-bottom holes in carbon fibre reinforced polymer (CFRP) laminates which has a wide application in various sectors of industry.     

堪为物理学第三分支的计算物理

本文是作者1982年在中国访问时所作的讲演,论述物理学各领域的前沿工作,用许多事例说明计算物理对推动物理理论的重大意义。文中还指出计算物理在其性质、方法及需要等方面不同于和独立于解析的理论物理和实验物理,而成为物理学的第三分支。